Missionaries for Photographers a Marketing Fable
My background is in marketing. After joining several organizations and socializing with many photographers the one thing I found with most... they are great photographers but not necessarily great marketing people.
I recently gave a seminar called "Re-discover the Magic". The entire point of the seminar was to help business owners to create and generate more business than they ever dreamed of getting.
To start I asked the question as to where their customers come from. Now keep in mind that most of them spend from $50,000 to $200,000 in this group (not photographers) per year in advertising and marketing. One thing that has happened every single time is that even though they spend all of these marketing dollars they all received more new business from those which had done business with them before or a referral from someone who had done business with them.
Having established that then you know where I am heading. You must make every effort to make certain that your "Customer Experience" is the highest possible level. If you do this it will create "Missionaries" for your business not just customers. Missionaries of course are better than customers because they can not wait to tell somebody about their great experience with you.
You can take all of the money you make this year, and if the "Customer Experience" is lackluster... well, you'll have to spend it all again next year because you will have no missionaries doing the heavy lifting for you. I can't emphasize enough that the customer experience is everything... and I do mean EVERYTHING.
From the way you answer the phone, the way your website looks, your business cards, your business, your conduct, your appearance, ( I mean a professional look not a beauty Queen or King). It is the manner in which you keep your commitments, and the way you make your customers feel, and of course the quality of the end result.
I will write in more detail in a future article... but for now here is your assignment:
Make a list of what I call "Crucial Points of Customer Contact". This is anything that your customer will be exposed to, from advertising, phone calls, literature, and your facility if you have one, your vehicle... yes people make determinations based on that too. Make a complete list, truly look at your business as an outsider and start asking the question "How do I make this as good as I possibly can?" Try not to miss any point of contact that the customer will see, hear, smell, or experience with you. This should keep you busy for a little bit. Then start making changes and blow away the "Customer" you have in front of you and start to create "Missionaries" for your business!
If this article inspired you I'd love to hear about it.
Patrick Miller
p.s.studio Wedding Photography
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02-02-2012, 11:48 PM
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